Good Night From II

Thanks for the info! It's refreshing to hear that actually. I have been considering moving to trucking for a couple of years and Swift was the first to pop into mind because of their large size. Then, I started reading other forums on Facebook, Youtube, and other sites and people seem to mercilessly bash Swift. I probably should learn to take what people say on these forums with a grain of salt. Just people trying to stir the pot I guess.

I am in a good situation for going OTR at this point. Clean driving record, no house/family etc, and single. I plan on moving out of my apartment and going 100% on the road to try and save as much money as possible. Still paying for a useless college degree and a car note. Thinking about trying to make Lathrop, CA as my home terminal. Have you heard anything good, bad, or otherwise about that location? Is it generally OK to leave your personal car at a terminal while you are out, or would it be better to rent a garage somewhere?

 

I talked to drivèrs at terminals and heard them say they are refusing any load offerings under 1000 miles. I ask them how long they been sitting and they said couple of days. I just shook my head.
I bet the loads they refused were 400 to 500 miles.

 

You can park your car at a terminal

 

Thanks.

I don't see myself turning down many loads. Unless it is physically impossible to make a deadline, I don't like to leave money on the table like that. You win some, you lose some. When I was a cab driver, I had passengers that only wanted to go a couple of blocks, and I had some that went to a far suburb. I always try to take the good with the bad.

 

I'm out of Lathrop ... do your job, pay attention, be proactive and they'll take care of you.

Bottom line, Swift takes care of those who take care of themselves. Sit around waiting for someone to take care of you and you'll be waiting a long time.

 

Columbus, WI.

When I got up this morning I had no trailer marker or tail lights. 2 breakers were tripped so I reset them and was on my way. Turn signals, brakes and 4-ways still worked.
A while later they went out again. It was still dark. I pulled to the side and reset them again.
A few minutes later they were blown again, so I went 5 miles to a J and called on-road.

I was in East St. Louis, IL so he sent me to a Swift shop in St. Louis, MO. I had to wait about 45 minutes until it was light enough to drive without lights.
They had it fixed in about 45 minutes.
Someone had twisted together the wires for the marker and tail lights, then wadded a paper towel around it. Not too surprising it started shorting out.

It set me back about 2.5 hours all together.

Then as I was writing this I got a call from someone in Operations, somewhere.
He wanted my help in moving around 15 trailers from a rail yard to the Inver Grove Heights terminal for the Walmart blitz. He'll be paying me $21 per hour and I'll be home every night while I do it.
I said yes, and hopefully that rail yard isn't to much hassle to get in and out of.
I also told him up front that I like a 12 hour break, not a strict 10. No problem. Sweet.

 

You might consider getting a wire stripper/crimper and some butt connectors and splices. Many times you can get the wires reconnected and be on your way in a matter of minutes. I use self fusing tape instead of electricians tape because it makes a more waterproof seal.

Even a company driver can make more money by being able to take care of minor repairs like this. I hated to sit waiting for road service, burning my 14 when I drove for Swift. I much preferred to take care of wiring issues myself and maximize miles.

 

The problem is finding the problem in the first place. I had no idea where to look.
Maybe next time it happens I'll look there first. But in nearly 6 years this is the first time this has happened.

 

Had a few light issues that in managed to fix by myself with electric tape a knife and some needle nose pliers. But if it's in the junction boxes or else where thats where I call in the trailer guys. Let them hunt the thing down.

Sweet deal @Moosetek13

Still in Phoenix, walked into Securement class, Ray told me that I was on saftey hold, told me to go take care of it. Turns out there were two following distance vids, but both showed me dropping my speed, so no issue.

Unchained and Rechained a 40k shotgun coil. Tarped an aluminum load that a driver brought in. 9ft high 40ft long going to the very edge of the trailer on both side. Helped with a step deck stack that someone was picking up. Went over a variety of edge protection stuff and choked down a bunch of regs. Turns out swift dosent use snap binders (no big surprise.) And we are only supposed to use the racheting winch bars. Never had seen one of those till today. Of course anytime I've even seen our guys out on the road they use the normal winch bars. So I had no clue.

The cool thing about it, is that the instructor Ray isn't one of the normal saftey guys who tend to have a holier than thou attitude. He was driver flatbed for 10 years, knows his regs chapter and verse. And he cuts up and has you laughing, tells his stories. Real casual, but to the point when explaining something. And he does a very good job of it. He has a whole collection of photos showing load disasters, and proper securement.

I am loving it so far, I wish I had made the switch sooner. Gotta use your brain and observe very carefully. And I love getting my hands dirty.

I am going to be sore tomorrow though.

 

I think I pissed off a planner.